Case Number 15686

BRAINSTORM

The Charge

Wire up.

Opening Statement

On paper, any movie that combines Christopher Walken with special effects
wizard Douglas Trumbull (2001: A Space Odyssey) and 1980s pre-virtual
reality technology has to be a winner. Now remastered on DVD to preserve its
ambitious technical presentation, Brainstorm is a near-perfect slice of
1980s-style science fiction, back when computers promised to unlock every secret
of the human psyche -- not just run Excel spreadsheets.

Facts of the Case

Imagine a machine that can download one person's thoughts and sensations and
record them for playback by another individual. For Michael Brace (Christopher
Walken, The Dead Zone) and his scientific team, this fantasy has become
reality with the development of "the hat," a virtual reality device
that allows users to experience sensation projected directly into the brain.

Michael is elated at the success of the project, although his enthusiasm is
tempered by the involvement of his estranged wife Karen (Natalie Wood, West
Side Story) and the paranoia of his chain-smoking coworker Lillian (Louise
Fletcher, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest). Once the device is
demonstrated to investors, the potential for the device becomes apparent once
the military usurps the project for their own ends.

Michael finds another use for the device by capturing his own memories of
his wife and presenting them to her as a present. The two rekindle their romance
by sharing in private memories. But when a tragic death at the office leads to
suspicious motives, Michael uses the hat to delve into the final moments of
death itself -- with grave consequences.

The Evidence

In the great annuls of cinematic history, Brainstorm is a film
overshadowed by its own politics, technology, and tragedy, best known for its
extenuating circumstances than the actual film itself. Actress Natalie Wood
passed away during filming of Brainstorm, and her final sequences are
constructed using stand-ins to replace her. Pressures from the studio to halt
production after her death lead to conflict with the director, special effects
guru Douglas Trumbull, and the ensuing stalemate delayed the release of the film
almost two years. It also drove Trumbull out of Hollywood altogether. Trumbull
had grand visions for his project, even going so far as to develop his own film
projection system specifically for the film called Showscan (a form of Super
Panavision 70). Recorded on 70mm film designed to project images at rates of 60
frames per second, the process resulted in spectacular fidelity and definition,
but the cost of upgrading theatres to the Showscan technology was prohibitively
expensive and was never implemented, despite promises made by the studio. When
Brainstorm finally hit theatres almost two years after its completion, it
became clear that audiences were more interested in the gossip surrounding the
production than the film itself. Having moved on to juicer stories, audiences
were fickle and ignored Brainstorm at the box office.

Brainstorm is a fantastic science fiction film, ahead of its time if
only for its prophetic vision of virtual reality. Filmed in 1981,
Brainstorm was far ahead of the curve in imagining technology progressing
to the point where experiences, sensations, and emotions could be projected
directly into the human brain via (you guessed it) a big clunky helmet with
steam shooting out the side. Audiences may not have found the idea particularly
interesting at the time, but ten years later found virtual reality research on
the cutting edge of scientific research. Sure, it didn't really go anywhere in
mainstream culture, but it was a heck of an idea.

Science fiction aside, Brainstorm focuses on the dissolving and
repairing of a broken marriage between Michael and Karen, who use the technology
to discover their own feelings about each other, and allow the other intimate
access to the recesses of their heart and memories. Executed with surprising
tenderness and heartfelt emotion, the film opens some interesting philosophical
doors by using the helmet to share with each other things they cannot express in
words. Were it not for the machine's ability to capture their true essence and
beam it directly into the other's brains, the marriage would end -- but lo, the
technology saves the marriage. It's an intriguing, frightening idea; the very
notion of full disclosure to another person, and it works well, despite the
flimsiness of the characters (especially Karen's character, who remains
surprisingly alien and aloof the entire film).

Michael also uses the helmet to explore the final moments of the life of his
co-worker Lillian, with frightening results, and here the film delves into the
realm of the afterlife, with mixed results. Others -- like Jacob's
Ladder, Altered States, and Flatliners -- delve into similar
ideas, but Brainstorm resists the temptation to turn the film into a
mediocre thriller by making Michael come back a zombie or some silly thing like
that. Instead, the exploration is spiritual, personal, and introspective, a
perplexing sequence of flashing special-effects trickery symbolizing a transient
journey from Hell to Heaven, all the while with Christopher Walken twitching and
muttering and staring into space.

A psychedelic, hallucinogenic journey into death is fun, but the film also
(and predictably) harps on about the military aspects of the technology, with
the government wrestling control of the project away from the designers into a
top-secret black ops project codenamed (you guessed it) Brainstorm. This part of
the film is less fun, because it feels like we should be watching Real
Genius, doubly so during the slapstick sequence where mechanical robots get
reprogrammed to spray water on security guards, soap the floor, and trash
everything in sight. We could do without this part. It feels tacked on,
something to secure a PG rating when the film ought to be delving deeper into
more profound notions of its technology.

Still, one cannot deny there is something undeniably fascinating about the
ideas and explorations of Brainstorm, even when acknowledging that the
film cheaps out on its promised climax. We get tantalizingly close to
profundity, but the film backs away, opting to avoid explanation or
rationalization by offering up sequence after sequence of flashing lights in
panoramic widescreen. The final interpretation, as always, gets left to the
audience -- and perhaps this is for the best in the long run. Had the film tried
to spell things out too much, perhaps Brainstorm today would be nothing
but a laughable Christopher Walken science-fiction film from the 1980s. By
leaving things ever-so-slightly ambiguous, Brainstorm challenges its
audience just a little to ponder the meaning of it all.

Though dated by modern CGI standards, the special effects in
Brainstorm are undeniably impressive, especially considering how the
effects predate most computer-generated technology. By modern standards, the
special effects in Brainstorm might appear Lilliputian, but at the time,
this was amazing stuff. Here is where the director shows off his technical
wizardry chops; after all, the man did do the effects for Blade Runner
and 2001. While the introspective journey into the recesses of the human
mind might be a bit New Age for some, it is an undeniably flashy journey, full
of strobing lights, pulsing sound effects, surging flashes of colors, and
kinetic energy. Watching this film under the effect of drugs must be one heck of
a trip. Trumbull's direction is surprisingly deft, and one would have no idea of
his relative directorial inexperience watching Brainstorm.

Trumbull's technical ambitions for Brainstorm presented unique
challenges for modern-day formats, and this release of Brainstorm
actually improves upon previous releases -- although you might not realize it at
first glance. The "memory" sequences recorded for the film were shot
in Trumbull's Showscan, a.k.a. Super Panavision 70 (at a massive aspect ratio of
2.2:1) with the rest of the film filmed on standard 35mm. The intention was to
have the theatrical curtains pulled back wide, and when the film cut to the
special sequences, they would be displayed in the full 60fps, resulting in a
mind-blowing, high-resolution experience. It would be akin to cutting away to
IMAX-recorded footage back in 1983, which would have been a heck of a thing
indeed. Alas, the death of Wood, costs, and a strained relationship between
director and studio scuttled the plan before its release. Unfortunately for
Brainstorm, most television sets don't come with adjustable theatrical
curtains.

Previous releases of Brainstorm on DVD have presented the film in a
constant aspect ratio of 2:35:1, letterboxing the Showscan footage and spoiling
the director's intended effect of panoramic immersion during the memory
sequences. This release "fixes" the problem by a unique method by
letterboxing/windowboxing the standard footage and allowing the Showscan footage
to expand to the entire length of the screen. It is a strange solution to a
unique problem and carries its own benefits and drawbacks -- but more on this
later.

The transfer is clean and detailed, especially during the Showscan footage,
with muted color tones and washed out black levels. The picture looks very nice
for its age, but dated; it lacks the modern punch and black levels of films
recorded in later years. The remastered presentation does the film justice --
nary a scratch or mar to be found. A Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track is
primarily center-channel focuses, with clear dialogue and moderate bass
response. Where the full surround track does the film justice is during the more
science-fiction special-effects sequences, with rear channels coming to life in
swooshing effect. The score is a fantastically dated electronic string-driven
affair, beautifully complementary to the film.

The film comes with no supplemental materials beyond a theatrical
trailer.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

I really wish Brainstorm came with a disclaimer or an insert,
something that explained to audiences why the film is presented in its peculiar
aspect ratios. Once you understand the intention of the director and the desired
effect being simulated, it all makes sense, but I had to go digging on the
Internet for an explanation. It is an alarming thing to see a film suddenly
switch between glorious anamorphic widescreen and crummy letterbox without
warning; so much so that I actually spent a good 20 minutes fussing with my A/V
settings, convinced the problem was (ahem) local.

The downside to preserving the director's intended effect on DVD is that you
have to watch 95 percent of Brainstorm in windowboxed widescreen -- big
black bars on all four sides of the picture, regardless of your television size.
No, you can't adjust the picture to compensate, because if you do, you'll miss
out on the larger-than-life Showscan footage expanding the entire length of the
screen.

Purists may consider this a small price to pay for preserving the intention
of an ambitious director, but the final effect is (for lack of a better word)
really @#$% strange. After all, who wants to watch 95 percent of a film
windowboxed on all four sides?

Closing Statement

Brainstorm is an ambitious film in both scope and presentation,
pushing the boundaries of cinematic imagination and filmmaking techniques.
Though dated by current standards, there is something undeniably profound about
the film, something impressively meaningful and relative, even for modern
audiences. It pushes its borders into three radically opposite subjects --
spirituality, technology, and romance -- and manages to come with something that
almost feels united and harmonious. Plus, it's got Christopher Walken, baby.

The Verdict

A surprising treat of 1980s science fiction, Brainstorm receives a
well-deserving remastering on DVD, provided you can wrap your head around the
peculiar aspect ratio.